Archive for December, 2010

Word is that Wally will take over the B-Mets and Teufel will take over in Buffalo.

What strikes me a little funny, is if Wally was truly being considered as a candidate to manage the big league team, why is he not taking over in Buffalo? Teufel was not a candidate for the Mets job, Backman was. Teufel did not have a winning record with Binghamton, Backman had a great year in Brooklyn. It makes sense to me that someone who was very close to being named the parent clubs manager should slot right in at the next level, the AAA team in Buffalo.

This makes me think that Backman was never a true candidate, and that Sandy simply wanted to appease fans. When Backman didn’t get the job, Sandy simply stated that Terry Collins came out way ahead of the pack. His ass is covered, and the fans can kiss it if they like, the man had a chance to earn the job and failed.

I still can not believe that with all the time the front office took to find a new manager, with all the talent out there, from two former Mets managers, to bright young eager minor leaguers, to guys who have been in the organization for years, the best that they can come up with is Terry Collins. A guy who quit two managing jobs, a guy who’s team petitioned the front office to fire, and a guy who was wonderful at the position that he help prior to big league assignment. With so many other major league jobs available at the end of the season, he should have at least been on someone else’s short list. No other team gave him a sniff, it was just the Mets. Something does not add up here.

Happy New Year to all my non spamming readers.

Metsblog once again nails it concerning Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran. How so many people seem to want these two guys off of the team simply amazes me.

Looks like there will be little news out of Metsville for the next week or so. Sandy says he is waiting until January before he begins to tinker with his new team.

If anything comes up, I will let you know.

This thought occurred to me a week or two ago, it made Metsblog this morning.

It is a little bit easier to play football games on paper and come up with pretty much what actually happens. In a season that only has twenty or so games, there is less room and time for strange things to happen, although, all you have to do is look at the Giants vs Eagles game and see that shit does happen.

Over one hundred and sixty two games, many things can happen. Mental and physical strength has an ebb and flow, and it plays into almost every game. There is down time in football, a week to get your head back in the game. In baseball, you are often playing the same team less than twelve hours since you last played them, the game the night before hasn’t had much time to escape your thoughts.

There are a lot of ifs for the Mets in 2011, and there are a lot of ifs for every team out there. I think the line up is very good, and could get better with a tweaking here and there to get some hitters protection. Pitching will come around, the pen concerns me, starting pitching I think will be better than people expected.

The pen looks a bit weaker. so far Takahashi and Pedro Feliciano are gone. They were two people that you could trust. Pedro was called into many games, but normally faced one or two batters. It did seem like Jerry had him warming up almost every inning.

These guys got a lot of money, and I believe that Mets will spend money, I don’t believe that they will overspend. These guys are over paid for what they do.

This wait and see attitude may sit well with the Mets brass, the Fans are getting itchy for something to happen. Right now the Jets are struggling,  the Knicks are winning for the first time in years, and the Giants are getting ready for the play offs facing one of their biggest rivals, and there are still people calling in saying that the Mets need to make a move.

Not sure I want them to make a move for the sake of making a move. If nothing happens before spring training, then I will start to panic.

Prepare for a little lull in the winter action, to Mets fans it will feel more like hibernation, until after New Years. Expect the Mets to salvage a pitcher from last years injured bin, or from the was good two years ago rack at the back of the store.

Not sure if this is just the Mets fan in me, or if there is any logic to this. The only real issue the Mets have is over coming Johann’s absence; second base; and if Jason Bay can live up to his baseball card.

Tiny things like getting Wright back to a good two strike hitter and a much healthier Reyes and Beltran should go a long way to overcoming the pitching rich phucking Phillies.

Well, it wasn’t years after all. Cliff Lee appears to have decided to go back the Phillies.

This gives them one of the most dominant rotations, heading into a new era in baseball where pitching is no longer taking a back seat to some .240 hitter with 43 home runs, who carries three different gloves with him, each one complete with holes.

The Phillies are getting older by the minute, and their farm system is being drained as fast as their bank account. It seems to be the opposite for the Mets. Time will tell which plan works best.

So many callers to the back peddling king of radio and anything else he is associated with mentioned to Sandy Alderson that what they thought he was doing was the exact definition of insanity.. doing the same thing and expecting different results. Sandy’s points were quite valid. Bay will not have a concussion, Beltran and Reyes will not start the season on the DL, Jerry by the Manuel will not be at the helm, etc, etc, etc.

Faith and Fear in Flushing has a nice take on what Mets fans can expect from their new hitting coach.

Sounds like a bad law firm. This is what you get when you drag your net on the bottom of the river. There is an art to fishing on the bottom, lets hope Sandy is a master bater.

So far, the Mets have added a back up catcher who still has eight days left on his fifty day suspension after he didn’t realize the weight control drug he was taking contained a banned substance, and a rubber armed reliever who has been on four teams in six years and prefers to pitch in games with a lead.

Very sleepy hot stove, not much of a sputter.

With talk of a deal brewing between the Mets and Red Sox some sanity is surfacing about Beltran’s value. It is a shame that his entire Met career is defined by one at bat. The majority of comments on the Metsblog post remind people that he is not the reason the Mets lost in 06, and he has been a force in the field and at the plate for most of his time in orange and blue.

My only complaint about Beltran, and it really has nothing to do with him, is that Art Howe insisted on batting him third when his average during his first season with the Mets was .270. He was trying to win over the fans and live up to his contract, and never let on that he was hurting.

Who are the Mets going to sign next? Perhaps they can be like the Giants who won with average players and some above average pitching, who played well with each other.